Work
Case studies on decisions, tradeoffs, and what I learned.
B2B SaaS Platform Scaling
How we scaled a multi-tenant platform from 10 to 500+ customers while maintaining performance.
Context
A B2B SaaS platform serving mid-market customers was hitting scaling challenges. We had outgrown our initial architecture but lacked clear performance baselines.
Challenge
We needed to scale the platform without disrupting existing customers or requiring a full rewrite. The engineering team was small, and product velocity had to stay high.
Approach
First, I established performance baselines and identified bottlenecks through real customer usage patterns. Then I prioritized: database query optimization first, caching second, then infrastructure changes. Each change was validated before moving to the next.
Impact
Reduced query response times by 60%, which directly improved customer experience. We enabled 5x customer growth over 18 months without increasing operational complexity.
Key Learning
Premature optimization is noise. Data-driven decisions on what to optimize first compound. Small, defensible changes compound faster than large rewrites. Trust your metrics.
Scope Discipline in Product Development
How saying no to good ideas made the product better.
Context
Early in a marketplace product, we had many opportunities to expand. Every request seemed reasonable, but velocity was dropping as scope crept.
Challenge
The team felt pressure to be responsive to every stakeholder idea. But responsiveness to every request becomes unresponsiveness to core users.
Approach
I worked with the team to define clear product principles: focus on the core user problem, measure impact, and ruthlessly deprioritize everything else. This meant declining 80% of feature requests, including some from high-profile partners.
Impact
Shipped the core marketplace feature 6 weeks faster. Customer satisfaction improved because we owned what we built. Revenue grew 3x because we solved a real problem deeply instead of many problems shallowly.
Key Learning
The hard part of product is not ideas—it's discipline. Saying no publicly is harder than privately, but it builds trust. Velocity compounds when you protect focus.